1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an exterior member of an image-taking apparatus, and in particular, to an image-taking apparatus having a metal exterior member formed by drawing.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventional image-taking apparatuses such as digital still cameras and video cameras are composed of an image-pickup unit composed of a plurality of units such as an image-pickup lens unit, an illuminating unit, and a battery housing unit, and a exterior member which protects the image-pickup unit.
With a recent decrease in the size of image-taking apparatuses, an exterior member is often used which is obtained by drawing a thin metal plate.
The casing material of the recent image-taking apparatus is divided into a plurality of areas for an operation of assembling the exterior member with the image-pickup unit. To combine the divided exterior members together, it is necessary to provide an auxiliary member inside each exterior member.
Further, after the pluralities of exterior members have been assembled with the image-pickup unit, there may be a fine step in the combined part between two exterior members. Furthermore, if the combined part is located around an operation member operated by a user, a sufficient rigidity cannot be obtained by using only the exterior members.
To solve this problem, it is contemplated that an exterior member which is formed by drawing and which is thin but is integrally machined is applied to the image-taking apparatus as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.H8(1996)-55613.
However, the image-pickup unit is provided with a plurality of projecting portions such as operation buttons and a lens placed in a front surface of an illuminating unit which project from the surface of the exterior member. In this case, an operation of securing the projecting portions from the inside of the integrated exterior member is difficult.
Then, if the image-pickup unit having the projecting portions projecting from an outer surface of the exterior member is inserted into the integrated exterior member, the projecting portions may interfere with the exterior member. It is thus difficult to insert the image-pickup unit into the exterior member.